This invention relates to a utility bracket for use in modular offices or work stations. More particularly, it relates to such a bracket for utilitarian or decorative purposes, or both, that can be removably located within an office cubicle, for example.
The continuing quest for efficient use of space in an office milieu has led to various forms of modular offices or work spaces for creating several such within a given space. In general, such modular offices are formed as cubicles by attaching together pre-fabricated wall portions, generally at right angles to each other. The wall portions are usually five to seven feet in height, and special clips are used to join the walls together. Such an arrangement of cubicles represents an efficient use of space, although the general tendency is to make each cubicle just large enough to contain a bare minimum of furniture or appliances. Further, uniformity dictates that the pre-fabricated walls be a neutral color, with the net result that each cubicle is composed of three or four drab walls. Shelves and the like may be installed in place by special clips which attach to the metal frames of the walls, but little or no provision is made for hanging pictures, supporting flower pots, or other measures for relieving the drabness without compromising available space. Although the shelves can support such things as flower pots, usually the shelf dictates where the flower pot or other decorative device is to be located and often is of insufficient supporting strength. Further, such floor space occupying items such as, for example, a clothes tree, only serve to crowd the cubicle more and contribute to an almost claustrophobic effect.
The present invention is directed to an efficient use of space, particularly in a modular type of office arrangement wherein pre-fabricated wall members are used to create a plurality of individual cubicles. The invention is a bracket member of a suitable sturdy moldable material such as any of a number of plastics, although other suitable materials may be used, which fits down over the corner formed by the junction of two wall members. The bracket, which, for example and preferably, is triangular in shape, is substantially planar and has a top surface, a bottom surface, and first and second rear surfaces which are preferably normal to each other and form the legs of a right triangle, of which a front leg or edge is the hypotenuse. In accordance with the invention, each of the rear legs has a number of spaced U-shaped support fingers or support brackets extending downwardly from the bottom surface of the planar bracket. The two legs of the U-shape are spaced apart a distance that is slightly greater than the width of the module wall, so that the bracket of the invention fits snugly on, and is supported by, the intersecting walls.
A feature of the present invention is that the array of spaced U-shaped fingers on one of the rear legs of the utility bracket is different from the array of fingers on the other rear leg. As will be explained fully hereinafter, the arrays different primarily in the positioning of the U-shaped fingers and the spaces therebetween. As will be apparent from the following, when two or more utility brackets are used with, for example, four cubicles formed by intersecting walls, the fingers of each interdigitate with the fingers of adjoining utility brackets so that at the wall intersection, where four cubicle corners are formed, four utility brackets, one for each cubicle, can be used and are equally supported. As will be more clearly seen hereinafter, the utility brackets are identical to each other in their basic configuration, thereby requiring the one mold for the molding thereof, where the brackets are of suitable plastic material, of only one bracket configuration. Thus, it is not necessary that a plurality of different bracket configurations be produced. It is, however, possible, as will be seen from the following, to accessorize individual brackets for special uses and, to that extent, differently configured brackets may be produced.
The principles and features of the present invention will be more readily apparent from the following detailed description, read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.